First quarter 2008: improved cost base, higher revenue

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air transport

Wien (euro adhoc) - Reorganisation shows continuing positive effects
- Operating margins in Q1 2008 have improved vs. Q1 2007 despite
considerable start-up costs due to the reallocation of aircraft
capacity to Vienna and continued high fuel prices.

Vienna/Bratislava, 29 January, 2008. SkyEurope Holding AG, listed on
the Vienna Stock Exchange´s Prime Market segment, has published its
financial results for the 1st quarter of the 2008 financial year (1
October - 31 December 2007).

New management, positive effects The extensive reorganisation program
implemented by SkyEurope´s new management is focusing on continuous
cost reductions with a firm commitment to the bottom line. When
comparing Q1 2008 to Q1 2007 SkyEurope has improved on virtually all
cost categories.

Q1 2008 reflects SkyEurope´s first two months of operations with the
new base structure after the reallocation of aircraft capacity from
Krakow and Budapest to Vienna, Prague and Bratislava and initial
benefits from this consolidated base network can already been seen.
Although the number of bases has been reduced, sales increased
considerably by 32.2% to EUR 53.1m. In addition this new optimised
base structure allowed SkyEurope to improve the overall aircraft and
crew utilisation thereby reducing unit costs significantly (15.9%
reduction in cost per seat).

As the winter quarter by tradition is the weakest in earnings of
SkyEurope´s financial year, EBITDAR (EUR -6.5m) and EBIT (EUR -14.8m)
in absolute numbers were still in the red. However, cost cutting
measures and higher efficiency lead to an improvement in the
corresponding margins. EBITDAR margin: -12.3% (+1.9 pp); EBIT margin:
-28.0% (2.4 pp)

Fuel prices continued their upward trend in Q1, however benefits from
the renewed aircraft fleet were realized which is significantly more
efficient than the older 737 classics and a weakened US Dollar which
also partially mitigated the increase in fuel prices. In addition to
this, significantly lower unit maintenance expenses were incurred as
a result of our renewed fleet.

Cost per seat decreased significantly by 15.9% from EUR 66.6 in Q1
2007 to EUR 56.0 in Q1 2008 which was driven primarily by higher
aircraft and crew utilisation, and reduced flight times. Unit cost
reductions were also enhanced by a consolidation of SkyEurope´s base
network from 5 bases to 3; and a decrease in maintenance costs per
seat. There were also other significant reductions in unit costs
attributable to a decrease in headcount, whereby management was able
to reduce staff by 13.8% from 843 in Q1 2007 to 727 to improve staff
efficiency.

With the winter timetable, SkyEurope now has 6 aircraft based in
Vienna, its most expensive base which has significantly affected the
Q1 results in terms of profitability. The decision to place an
additional capacity in Vienna during the winter period was taken
after careful consideration and the start-up losses of the Vienna
base operation are expected to be recovered in the future. This has
been the case with our more mature Prague base, which is now
performing very well despite over 100% growth this quarter.

"We have started by significantly reducing our cost base and are
pushing our business forward to profitability," says Nick Manoudakis,
Chief Financial Officer and adds, "I see opportunities in all areas.
We expect revenue improvements to follow the cost improvements in the
summer season."

In thousands of EUR, unaudited
31 Dec 2007 31 Dec 2006 Change %
3 months 3 months
Financial data
Operating revenue 53,058 40,125 32,2%
EBITDAR (6,516) (5,686) 14,6%
EBITDAR margin (12,3%) (14,2%) +1,9 pp
EBIT (14,839) (12,188) 21,8%
EBIT margin (28,0%) (30,4%) +2,4 pp
Net result (11,331) (13,804) (17,9%)
Net margin (21,4%) (34,4%) +13,0 pp

Equity (14,772) (2,738) n.m.
Cash and cash equivalents 21,922 11,579 89,3%

Operating data
Average no. of aircraft 14,0 12,1 15,9%
No. aircraft at period end 14 11 27,3%
Passengers 857,953 595,332 44,1%
Aircraft utilisation (BH per day)10:33 9:15 14,1%
ASK (million) 1,098 812 35,2%
RPK (million) 797 620 28,5%
Seats flown 1,212,811 785,810 54,3%
Seat Load factor (Passengers/Seats) 70,7% 75,8% (5,0 pp)
Revenue per ASK (EURc) 4,83 4,94 (2,2%)
Revenue per seat (EUR) 43,75 51,06 (14,3%)
Yield in EURc (Rev./RPK) 6,66 6,47 2,9%
Average revenue per PAX (EUR) 61,8 67,4 (8,2%)
Cost per ASK (EURc) 6,18 6,44 (4,0%)
Cost per ASK ex fuel (EURc) 4,61 4,92 (6,3%)
Cost per seat (EUR) 56,0 66,6 (15,9%)
Cost per seat ex fuel (EUR) 41,7 50,8 (17,9%)
Sectors 8,155 5,516 47,8%
Average stage length 908 1,029 (11,7%)
Total staff at period end 727 843 (13,8%)
Staff per aircraft 52 77 (32,3%)

end of announcement euro adhoc
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ots Originaltext: SkyEurope Holding
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Further inquiry note:

SkyEurope Holding AG

Nick Manoudakis, CFO

Tel.:+421 915 782 432

mailto:investor.relations@skyeurope.com

Branche: Air Transport
ISIN: AT0000497003
WKN: A0F5WU
Index: WBI
Börsen: Wiener Börse AG / official market